china, russia, france, the united kingdom, you name it next test-- . >> reporter: sequestration would not change that according to the center for strategic and budgetary assessment it is not the size of the cuts, about $50 billion a year that would be so damaging but the fact that they would be across-the-board. panetta adds that except for military pay every program from the joint strike fight tore military band was be cut by the same amount, 23%. >> it's absolutely a foolish thing to do. if you want to cut the defense budget that's fine. this is a foolish way to do it. >> reporter: in other words, if the pentagon were allowed to pick and choose its cuts sequestration might not be the disaster secretary panetta is predicting. david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. >> jeff: pentagon contractors aren't the only one in with a stake in this debate. 120,000 small contractors take part in the federal marketplace. a market worth $500 billion. >> lowell vant slot is scrambling to run every conceivable planning scenario for 2013. he's the military contracts manager for u.s. technologies which